Friday, June 4, 2010

There is nothing like baking Christmas bread in the middle of a heat wave. But, who am I to argue with Peter Reinhart? This recipe takes quite a bit of time since it relies mainly on wild yeast (i.e. a sourdough starter) to rise, but it makes some wonderful bread. I really was not in the mood for candied fruit peel (which I can only handle once a year) so I made more of a fruit loaf with currants and raisins. I actually forgot the almonds the recipe calls for. Oh well. Next time. I'm sorry the picture is so terrible (it looked way better on the little preview screen), it really does not do justice to this bread.

GENERAL NOTES1. As mentioned above, you need to have some sourdough starter on the go to make this bread in two days. Otherwise, you are going to need a good week to get your starter going.2. I usually use rum in these kinds of bread (and am always disappointed that you really cannot taste it in the final loaf) but this time I used whiskey. The flavour really came through.3. I did not have panettone pans or papers, so I baked them in 8" round pans.

VEGAN NOTES1. I subbed soy milk for dairy milk, and margarine for the butter.2. I subbed a flax egg (1 tbsp ground flax whisked into 3 tbsp water) for the egg, and did not bother to replace the egg yolk. Soy yogurt would also work fine, or you could just forget about replacing the egg.

Okay, I have this somewhat unrelated question. Only somewhat though, because it is about panettone. I have this really awesome non-vegan panettone recipe that I love but it's REALLY not vegan. I get replacing the butter called for with vegan butter and I believe you've said before that egg washes can be replaced with water or something but what is a good replacement for the 1/2 cup honey called for?And then there is the biggest problem I have. My recipe calls for 8 eggs (please keep in mind the fact that this is a big recipe that makes 3 1 1/2lb panettones). How do you even begin to replace that many eggs? I don't know much about baking and even less about vegan baking but I thought you might have some ideas since you bake bread so often.(If you want to look at the recipe, I can refer you to the book I got it from or just send you a document of it if you promise not to share it.)Thanks for your time and patience,Alex